The two boats carrying respectively 700 and 650 people on board for which the Alarm Phone yesterday had launched the sos while they were adrift in the Sar area between Malta and Italy. “The survivors report 12 people dead or unconscious, many suffering from dehydration. Both boats could sink at any time. They are afraid of drowning”, said the NGO, explaining that it had alerted the authorities without, however, it was still a rescue operation in progress 15 hours after the first report.
Casarini: “We await official news”
“From our monitoring activity it would appear that the recovery of the first boat should have been done around 2.30 tonight with the landing of the survivors in Messina, while the rescue of the second should have ended around 7.30 this morning”, he tells beraking latest news. Luca Casarini, Head of Mission of Mediterranea Saving Humans. Yesterday afternoon the National Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Rome would intervene with the Diciotti ship and two CP300s, in addition to the patrol boat of the Monte Cimone Finance Police, the Spanish unit Rio Arlanza and three merchant ships. “This would be one of the largest rescue operations carried out by institutional structures after Mare Nostrum”, underlines Casarini, who, however, asks for “official news”. “We ask to know if the operations have actually been concluded and their outcome and the conditions of the people on board, of whom nothing is known”.
Another 35 adrift off Malta
A boat with 35 people is adrift 80 nautical miles from Malta. “They report that they have been at sea for 2 days. They are exhausted and in urgent need of assistance,” explains Alarm Phone.